Sisko is busy preparing to receive the Paqu and Navot delegations, but another issue has come up with O'Brien. The chief has been assigned to pilot a runabout to Bajor, but he casually tries to find an excuse to get out of it. When his travel companion, Dr.Bashir, enters, it is obvious why O'Brien does not want to go: he does not like Bashir, who is oblivious to this fact. They have been told there is a medical emergency on Bajor, although the nature of the emergency is uncertain. Sisko leaves O'Brien stuck with Bashir, leaving them in the turbolift to greet the newly-arrived leader of the Paqu. When they get there, they meet TetrarchVaris Sul – a fifteen-year-old girl.

Act One

During the trip to Bajor, Bashir tries to make small talk, but O'Brien gives him the cold shoulder. Bashir does ask O'Brien not to call him "sir", but to use his first name, "Julian". They beam to the surface but find no signs of disease, despite the claim that the village is in danger of extinction. A man called the Sirah is dying, and the village leader believes they will all die with him. When Bashir and O'Brien visit the Sirah, he proclaims the Prophets have sent O'Brien to save the village. Something called the Dal'Rok threatens the village, however, and the villagers fear only the Sirah can save them.

Meanwhile, Varis and the Navot leader, Woban, meet with Sisko and Kira. They explain that they have had a treaty for ninety years and that it declares the boundary between their people a designated a river, the Glyrhond. However, during the Occupation, the Cardassians diverted the river for their mining operations and caused twenty kilometers of land to shift from Navot to Paqu control. While Woban claims the land is still his, Varis believes the original boundary – the river – still stands. They break temporarily, and as Varis passes by a bored Jake and Nog on the Promenade, Nog is lovestruck.

O'Brien and Bashir check on the Sirah, who is obviously the leader of the village. He is dying of natural causes, so there is nothing Bashir can do for him; however, the Sirah seems drawn somehow to O'Brien, calling him closer. He looks relieved, claiming the Prophets have sent O'Brien to him before he sends them both out.

Act Two

Back on the station, Nog takes Jake to Varis' quarters, where they nervously stumble over their words to offer a tour of the station, mentioning that a Klingon freighter leaving for the Gamma Quadrant through the wormhole. She accepts with a hint of a smile.

That night, the Sirah insists that he be allowed to "tell the story" as a dark cloud forms over the village (although no atmospheric disturbances or energy discharges can be found with tricorders). He stands on a rock where all the village can look at him as his back is to the cloud. He begins to give an inspirational speech, which lifts the hearts of the villagers and causes some sort of energy beam to rise from the village. This seems to push the ominously close cloud back, but the Sirah collapses. As he does so, the beam stops and the villagers panic. Without his help, the cloud – the "Dal'Rok" of their legend – fires a lightning-like beam and injures several people.

Act Three

Bashir and O'Brien help the Sirah to his feet and he asks for his successor, but not Hovath, his prior apprentice. He wants O'Brien. Urgently, the Sirah dictates what O'Brien should say and has him tell the story of how the village is stronger than the Dal'Rok. The villagers rejoice as the cloud-like formation is pushed away and disappears; immediately thereafter, the Sirah collapses and O'Brien is proclaimed the new Sirah by one of the villagers, Faren Kag.

In Sisko's office, he asks Varis whether she is there to talk or to start a war, since she has been wasting everyone's time to this point. She insists that the land belongs to the Paqu, despite claims otherwise. He asks if her people are as ready to die for the land as she seems to be. She heads out to the Promenade where she encounters Nog and Jake. She tells the two of them about her land negotiations, but in a circumspect way and Nog suggests that this could be an opportunity instead of a problem. Both Jake and Nog suggest talking to her parents, but they were killed by the Cardassians during the occupation.

On the planet, neither Bashir nor O'Brien can figure out what the strange creature was, nor how it was controlled. Bashir takes the opportunity to tease O'Brien before some of the villagers arrive bearing gifts and offering services. Faran insists that O'Brien bring his wife and daughter down to the village to live with him. As he exits, the Sirah's previous apprentice, Hovath stares at O'Brien with undisguised hatred.

Act Four

"Station log, supplemental. We have completed a second day of talks between the Paqu and the Navot. So far, we're no closer to finding a solution than we were when negotiations began."

Jake and Nog visit Varis again, but she is preoccupied with the negotiations. Just as the two boys make to leave, she asks how you can "be sure that an opportunity is worth the risk." Nog quotes the ninth Rule of Acquisition to her: "Opportunity plus instinct equals profit." The three decide to celebrate and head to Odo's office to swipe his bucket with a Cardassian security rod that Nog has. In the office, Nog tells them to watch the front door and then heads to look for the bucket. After a moment, he comes running out, trips and the contents of the bucket spill onto Jake. Nog begins to laugh at the joke because the contents were oatmeal. The three join in the laughter, just as Odo walks into the office and takes the bucket from Nog, who, in attempting to escape, runs headlong into Sisko.

Bashir and O'Brien continue to search for any hints of what the Dal'Rok might be when they are approached by a woman wanting her baby blessed by the Sirah. O'Brien leaves Bashir to distract the crowd and heads back to the Sirah's home. There, Hovath approaches O'Brien, and while O'Brien continues to search, draws a dagger and lunges at O'Brien. Instinct saves him and they struggle for a moment until Bashir enters the room and gets between the combatants. Hovath tells O'Brien that he is not the "true Sirah" and that Hovath is.

Act Five

Hovath explains his apprenticeship to O'Brien and Bashir and told how he was unable to control the Dal'Rok three nights ago. He then shows them a bracelet that apparently contains a fragment of one of the Orbs from the Celestial Temple. Hovath continues his story, telling them of the first Sirah, back when the village was split by hatred and mistrust, and how he used the fragment to create the Dal'Rok, and thus "give their fears a physical form" and force the villagers to work together to defeat it. O'Brien gives the Sirah's robe to Hovath, but Faren enters and tells Hovath that he had failed and would not be allowed to endanger the village again.

In his office, Sisko listens to Varis as she takes responsibility for the actions of Jake and Nog in the security office earlier, telling him that they were just trying to impress her. She tells him that she was trying to learn more about him and that Jake thought very highly of his father. Her father had been feared by the Navot and was unwilling to make any concessions, and Varis had been trying to do the same since "you don't lose by saying no". However, she has seen an opportunity that may allow both sides to say yes. Walking with Sisko, Varis is nervous about the compromise she is going to suggest; giving the Navot their land, but allowing free access to the river for the Paqu. They encounter Jake and Nog, watched by Odo of course, and she thanks them both, giving Nog a kiss on the cheek. Odo walks the two boys to the security office to clean up the mess they left.

In the village, O'Brien is getting ready to tell the story. The crowd urges him on as he reaches the platform, but he is obviously not comfortable. He begins to tell the story, poorly, as the Dal'Rok makes its appearance. There is no sign of the sparkling lights to fight off the Dal'Rok though. Meanwhile, Bashir encourages Hovath to step up to his true role and that the prior Sirah had likely chosen O'Brien so that Hovath could rescue him, and thus regain the confidence of the villagers. As the Dal'Rok comes in for the final attack, Hovath rushes onto the platform, grabs the bracelet from O'Brien and begins to tell the story, brimming with confidence. The lights appear, and the Dal'Rok is driven off and defeated once again. Bashir and O'Brien quietly make their escape. Back on the station, O'Brien tells Bashir that he's had enough of storytelling for a while, and Bashir informs him that he is not required to call him "Julian".

Michael Piller commented "One of the really big problems with this script, which is why it didn't appeal to anybody, is because it was not about any of our characters. We were just watching the events occur by putting O'Brien in the middle, saying you have to solve it. What really appealed to me was the great theme that sometimes we create our own monsters so that we can defeat them and feel secure in our power. I was always in love with that theme, and finally we made it work. Ira did a lot of work on that script." (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages)

Rick Berman commented "It was very difficult to shoot, and we were way over budget on the opticals on this show because of the complexity of this thing that appears in the sky. It was a little fanciful, but I like the science fiction element involving a creature created by the collective imagination of this village as a way of bringing them closer together. The story's having to do with a little piece of one of the orbs that is held by the storyteller was a very interesting concept as well." (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages)

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